UK police arrest two people for alleged ‘intifada’ chants

UK police make their first arrests since announcing officers will detain people who publicly chant pro-Palestinian calls to “globalize the intifada,” in a change prompted by Australia’s Bondi Beach attack.

London’s Metropolitan Police say two people “who shouted slogans involving calls for intifada were arrested for racially aggravated public order offences” at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the British capital.

Officers arrest a third person for obstructing the arrests, the force adds.

The arrests come hours after the Met and police in England’s northwest city of Manchester announced they would “be more assertive” in policing such protests to counter alleged antisemitism and incitement to violence through slogans.

The move follows father-and-son gunmen killing 15 people Sunday at a Hanukkah festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach and an October attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.